A Journey of Intentional Living
A profile of Shelby Payne, who is building a tiny home to live a more intentional life.
Story by ERIN MACKIN | Photos by SHELBY PAYNE & OCTOBER YATES
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KjZz2ACuz0[/embed]
“Booya!”
I heard this exclamation many times from Shelby Payne on a crisp, fall Sunday in October. She often followed it with the flash of a smile and a genuine laugh alongside the ka-shh, ka-shh of the nail gun.
The vibrant smile, laughter, many “booyas” and insights about life are snippets of Payne’s personality. However, something else has emerged that adds to Payne’s character: her big dream to intentionally live tiny.
For the last few years the Western Washington University alumna has been on a journey to live with less while beginning the process of constructing her own tiny house in Olympia, Washington. Payne has strung up soft twinkling lights on wooden beams and named her half-built house Cleo, after The Lumineers’ song “Cleopatra.”
Currently all four walls are up and the many windows are installed. A tall ladder stands where a staircase will one day lead to a loft, adjacent to a couch frame that doubles as storage. The light from outside shines through a door frame, a skeleton of wood slowly coming to life.
The tiny home movement has grown in recent years. Nationwide, housing prices continue to rise, according to a Reuters poll, and people are taking notice of the environmental impacts of living large. In 2015, the average American household measured just under 2,800 square feet, according to the American Enterprise Institute. Payne’s finished home will be somewhere around 300 square feet.
Many who choose to live this way are often free from debt and a mortgage, according to The American Tiny Home Association. They have an increased ability to travel and a smaller environmental footprint. These benefits are on Payne’s list of why she wants to live tiny, among many others. She’s not alone. According to the National Association of Home Builders, two out of five tiny home owners are over age 50 and one-fifth are under age 30.
When Teton Gravity Research published an article about a couple who built a tiny home in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, Payne knew it was for her.
Payne is an avid skier and outdoor lover. One of her dreams is to live in a town where she can play and ski every day in the winter. But Jackson Hole’s median home value is $815,700. The only feasible way she would be able to make this work financially would be to live in a tiny home. This idea got Payne thinking.
Aside from her dreams of hitting the slopes, Payne also wanted to live a more sustainable lifestyle.
“I realized that not only was it an economical decision, but also an environmentally friendly decision,” Payne says. “You’re disconnected from a lot of things. You’re using less resources, less water, less electricity.”
Originally, Payne planned to use only repurposed or recycled materials. After many attempts to collect materials, she realized that this wouldn’t necessarily be the best way for her to complete this project. She didn’t have a proper storage place to keep all of the materials, and she didn’t fully know what she needed so she changed directions.
“A way to mitigate my inability to do everything recycled was to do it locally, which is really important,” she says. “Not only is it important just as a concept, but as I’m moving home back to my hometown, one of the things that drew me back here was the sense that everything could be local.”
Payne works as the campaign manager for Max Brown, a candidate running for Olympia City Council. She often shops for groceries at Spuds Produce Market and sources all of her building materials for Cleo from businesses established in Olympia.
She laughs as she points to a horizontal stack of wood studs nailed together next to where her work desk will eventually sit.
“That’s what I like to call my tree because it’s essentially the extent of what a normal-sized tree would be, all of those studs stacked together. I’m like wow, that does not make me feel environmentally friendly,” she jokes.
After returning from a faculty-led service learning trip to Kenya and Rwanda, where she studied community development during winter quarter of 2016, her mind was made up. During these two months away from Bellingham and her house, Payne took the time to learn and contemplate what she really needed to survive.
“We were living in bunk beds in this village, coexisting with all of these people. It allowed me to be disconnected from society back home. That allowed for a lot of time to think about what I needed and what was important to me,” she says. “What it really came down to was a roof over my head, but something that wasn’t extensive. Something that had everything I needed; a bed, running water and something to keep me warm.”
Her last necessity is one she repeated throughout the whole day.
“People. I wanted people in my life,” Payne says.
The tiny home made more sense to her than ever.
“I would be living in a smaller structure, having smaller bills, and would be encouraged to live more intentionally outside — not only in terms of skiing and biking and hiking, but being in my community,” Payne says.
If there was another thing Payne made clear that afternoon, it is her cognizant appreciation for the process of this project. The original plan called for a finished home in November, just in time for ski season. However with a rainy spring and a full time job, the timeline shifted to a January finishing date.
“You can plan and plan and plan all you want, and life is just not always going to work out that way,” Payne says. “I think it’s incredibly important to remain flexible whether that’s in your career, in your relationships, your goals and dreams and aspirations. The tiny home has taught me that.”
Payne compares this to what she’s learned in post-graduate life as well.
“I’m figuring out what do jobs look like? What do friendships looks like? What does my life look like in how I live, how I play and how I interact with the world?” Payne says.
Although her process has been slower than planned, she’s remained intentional in using it as a personal growth experience. Initially she wanted to build the tiny home all by herself.
“I have no doubt that I could [build it solo], but it wouldn’t be nearly as rewarding as it has been if I didn’t ask for the help that I did, and if I didn’t seek out the people that have been blessing me much with their time and their talent,” she says.
With every day comes a new learning experience — each being another “booya” moment. Payne says she is learning how to access and utilize people’s resources; a challenge and a reward. For instance, Payne’s partner Zack Shier works in construction and has provided her with a multitude of knowledge and encouragement.
“It’s been a learning experience in that those people that know what they’re doing can take the time to say, ‘Here, let me take the time to show you and teach you.’ And that’s empowering in and of itself,” she says.
Soon, Cleo will stand fully finished atop a trailer, walls nailed together by Payne and those she cherishes most: her parents, friends and Shier. She has very detail thought out and every inch considered. It may be parked in a mountain town, close to the slopes and nestled between evergreen trees or close to downtown Olympia so Payne can easily ride her bike to work. Wherever it ends up, the house will be a physical representation of one woman’s big dream to live an intentional life.